32 NatWest and RBS Branches to Close

February 2022

32 NatWest and RBS Branches to Close

The NatWest Group will close 21 NatWest branches and 11 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) locations between May and July of this year, part of an industry-wide cull of high-street banks.

NatWest attributed the closures to customers’ growing preference for online and mobile banking services, a shift accelerated by the pandemic.

“As with many industries, most of our customers are shifting to mobile and online banking, because it's faster and easier for people to manage their financial lives,” the banking giant said in a statement.

31 of the sites are in England, including the RBS storefront in the group’s headquarters in Bishopsgate, City of London. The 32nd is an RBS branch in Cardiff.

NatWest said the majority of staff at the 32 locations will be redeployed to suitable roles within its branch network. However, 12 positions are under review and eligible for voluntary redundancy.

NatWest’s recent announcement takes the total number of branch closures scheduled for this year to around 250.

The Lloyds Banking Group intends to close 48 Lloyds and Halifax branches by April, after shuttering 100 locations in 2021. TSB will retire 70 locations - a quarter of its network - by June, while Virgin Money intends to shutter 31 storefronts.

Including 2022’s planned closures, nearly half of the UK’s bank branches have shut since January 2015, a recent Which? analysis found.

Campaigners and politicians have raised the alarm about the sharp contraction of the UK's banking network, warning that closures will deprive millions of older, rural, and cash-reliant Britons of access to financial services.

Under rules in force since September 2020, banks are required to notify regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of planned closures and detail their impact on customers, especially those who are vulnerable, and alternatives available to those users. But the new requirements haven’t slowed the pace of closures: 736 branches shuttered in 2021, nearly as many as in 2019 and 2020 combined (813).

The FCA and Treasury are now considering new rules that would allow the regulator to fine banks that close branches where they’re most needed and even enforce injunctions to stop closures from going ahead.

Meanwhile, other avenues for basic banking services are opening. Legislation passed last year allows retailers to offer cashback without a purchase - a service now available at 2,000 shops across the country. However, awareness of the initiative is low. According to research from Which? published in January, just 16% of shoppers are aware of the service.

Since 2017, customers of most major banks can complete basic banking transactions like depositing cash and cheques and withdrawing money at 11,000 Post Office counters. The Post Office recently signed a deal that will allow it to continue offering these services until the end of 2025.

But the closure of bank branches still poses a risk to local communities, said Dr Jackie Mulligan, a member of the government’s High Streets Task Force.

“Following the TSB closures announced late last year, this news [of the NatWest closures] is yet another shattering blow to the UK high street, which is already reeling after nearly two years of pain," she said.

“The shift online is irreversible, but so, too, is the damage that a bank leaving a high street can cause for the shops that surround it.

“Local shops need their local communities more than ever and the gradual retreat of banks, which bring all-important footfall, poses another existential threat. More important than ever, now, it is vital we support our local high street businesses.”